"It is a commandment that you praise God. If you don't hear and lay it to heart to give glory to My Name, I will curse you."
Malachi 2:1-2 (Amplified) God commands that we give Him thanks and praise everyday of the year, not just one day a year as we celebrate Thanksgiving. God is a jealous God who demands that we follow His commandments but it's not because He's vain, He means them for our own good, He wants what is best for us, His children. He loves to bestow His gifts upon us when we are obedient to Him in return. We can never out give God but He sure can make our blessing flow. Sometimes we feel that God isn't hearing us and so we lack our daily devotions to Him and we think we are punishing Him by doing that. But frankly, God isn't to be mocked and He isn't here for our pleasure, we are here to please Him! It's natural for us to have this all mixed up when we are living in the world of selfishness, greed, and vanity. We like to complain about the things we don't have when in reality, we should be grateful that God doesn't give us what we deserve! He is patient with us and willing to give us time in order to get this right. He wishes that no man will ever perish. In exchange for our praises and thanksgiving, He wants to give us eternal life! There are many references in the Bible to thanksgiving and praise and if you're not familiar with them, you should get acquainted with some of them. One such verse is this: "Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and a thank offering and into His courts with praise! Be thankful and say to Him, bless and affectionately praise His name." Psalm 100:4 (Amplified) This psalm is just one example that indicates how we are to approach our Almight Father. He wants us to come to Him affectionately, compassionately, whole heartedly, and reverently. "Why?" you may ask. As I mentioned already, it's our duty to give God ALL the glory and know that Him and only Him is responsible for all the blessings that we have been given. He knows our hearts, and therefore we can't fool Him with outward appearances. We can fool others with our phoney actions of thankfulness, but we will never put one over on God. The reason we give Him all our thanks and praise is so that He can prosper us. Yes, God will prosper His children when He knows their hearts are truly thankful for all that He's done. He tells us through His Son Jesus that He came to give us life and life abundantly. He wants the best for those who are truly thankful and praise His name. "Because you don't serve God with joyfulness in heart and gratitude, He will send enemies for you to serve." Deu. 28:47 (Amplified) Maybe this sounds a bit harsh, but God has to judge us for our sinful nature. If we refuse to obey and honor Him, He will make our lives less than meaningful in order to get our attention so that we will realize that He is the only way. It's in these valley times when we recognize His omnipotance and relinquish all our worldy ways to come to Him. In coming to Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are given His free gift of grace that allows us to become more like Christ. This outward life changing experience takes a life time to achieve, but one that is well worth it. To thank and praise God for all that He's done becomes a natural, daily function. We no longer take our lives for granted or anything else for that matter. His Word tells us about the benefits of our thanksgiving to Him.
1. God inhabits the place of praise. His presence is guaranteed. (Ps. 22:3) This is truly something to praise Him for because even Satan has to bow down to Him and therefore he can't keep you held in bondage anymore.
2. God will take over your battles. (Ps. 34:4) This is when you tell Him you can't do this by yourself. Give Him your problems and watch Him go to work on your behalf.
3. Diverse miracles will take place. (Ps. 103:7) God did exploits for Moses when He parted the Red Sea.
4. Pride is destroyed. (Jer. 9:23) God's word doesn't have very many nice things to say about a person's pride. He will make low a person with pride. In giving praise, it will destroy the poison of pride. The glory belongs to the Lord.
5. Praise will preserve blessings. (Josh. 24:28; Ps.102:18) God promises our inheritance through generations of those who love and praise Him.
6. We will flourish and be elevated. (Ps. 92:12) Praising brings raising! Praise and Thanksgiving is not a religion or even a holiday. It's not something we do just one day a week or one day a year. It's much more than that, it's a commandment, a commitment on our part. When we come to our heavenly Father in praise, we should expect to ask Him for anything, according to His will, and it shall be given. "Keep on asking, and it will be given you, keep on seeking and you will find, keep on knocking (reverently) and (the door) will be opened to you." Matt. 7:7 (Amplified) The key word in this verse is "keep". God's ways are not our ways, we don't snap a finger and expect Him to give us everything we ask for. Sometimes, the answer is "No" if it's not in His will for us, but through maturing in Christ, you will learn what and how to ask. Other times, He makes us wait, only because there is something we need to learn first in order to recognize the blessing. In our requests we need to know this also: "And if (since) we (positively) know that He listens to us in whatever we ask, we also know (with settled and absolute knowledge) that we have (granted our present possessions) the requests made of Him." 1 Jn. 5:15 (Amplified) "Do not fret or have anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God." Phil. 4:6 (Amplified) If you have never felt that God was listening to your prayers, call on His Son Jesus. Tell God you're sorry that you have sinned and you want to be washed clean in the blood of His Son Christ Who died for your sins and rose again. Tell God you are giving your life to Christ in order that you may come to Him with all your prayers and petitions because you are now His child. If you have said this prayer with total commitment from your heart, Christ will come and live in you through the Holy Spirit. This Holy Spirit will make the ways of God clear for you to keep from sinning and will give you a deep seeded desire to praise Him and give Him thanks in everything. We are not saved by what we do but by trusting what Christ has already done. |
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